Archive for the 'Paris' Category

Happy Holidays!Â Even though I have been quiet on the newsletter front, it has been busy at BonBonBar.

The most exciting news is that I have been hard at work writing a cookbook! It is called Beautiful Candymaking, and it is due out in the Fall of 2011 through Sterling Publishing.Â The book will feature my take on a wide range of candy recipes — from toffee to fudge to caramel corn — along with candymaking tips/techniques and gorgeous photography courtesy of The White on Rice Couple.

After developing so many recipes for the book, I thought that it would be a good idea to recharge and seek new inspiration for the company’s confections.Â So, BonBonBar will be closed from December 23 to February 1 as I eat my way around France, Italy, Brazil, and California.Â I am looking forward to returning with refreshed ideas for new products, but it most likely also means that, unfortunately, some candies will be rotated out in the new year.

As always, thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm.Â Happy customers have always been my favorite part of this BonBonBar adventure, and you have given me the amazing opportunity to run a truly artisan food company that will be going into its fourth year. I am grateful, and lucky.

All the best for a happy and sweet holiday season, and I hope that BonBonBar treats will be a part of it!

My plan for E. Dehillerin was to get little tart tins and such, knowing that I wouldn’t want to lug around heavy or huge kitchen supplies for the rest of my trip. I thought that my biggest concession would be the rolling pin, because of its size, but I bought it because I’ll use it the most and so will think about the trip France often.

This kitchen supply store has been open since 1820, and I generally liked how it hasn’t done much since to change the way that it’s run. The aisles are narrow and high, the shelves are overflowing with enticing cooking implements, purchasing things involves having them tallied up by a salesperson who gives the order sheet to the cashier (who does use a computer to print out a thorough receipt… allow a lot of time for this whole process), and your things are wrapped up tightly in newspaper and tape.

Oh, and the prices are listed in a catalogue organized by a code number system at the front of store, not on the things themselves. Otherwise, the labels on the products are very thorough about what they are made of and their size, and I didn’t feel too stupid only getting about 4 of everything because I knew I could see if I liked/used them, and then could track down more if desired.

By the way, aren’t these mini-loaf tins nice?

Like, really nice?

That’s good. Because I happened to get eight of them, and so paid $70. A salesperson had warned me early on that those mini cookie cutters were expensive — and at $7 each, they were — so I only got two of them. On a whim, since they looked nice and since I’d put back some bigger items, I threw a few more mini-loaf tins onto my pile, for a total of 4 each. It wasn’t until I got the receipt that I saw how much they were… And how cheap the little tart tins were — less than $2 each — and thought about how I make tarts way more than quickbreads, but… that. is. okay.

The one on the left is tin-plated and the one on the right is blue steel. They seem like terrific quality, and I’m sure that I’ll one day find excellent and amazing uses for them. I know I will because every single time I make something at home now, I ask myself, “How would it look as a mini-loaf?”

We stopped at Cafu du Marche by happenstance on a rainy afternoon , and in quintessential rainy-day-in-Paris fashion, I had the best duck confit of my life. Cafe du Marche is known for good food at reasonable prices, and for only about 9Euro, this was the juiciest, most flavorful, just sweet enough, just-caramelized-enough-on-the-outside duck confit ever. The crispy/soft/garlic potato rounds cooked in duck fat were the natural and perfect accompaniment. Even though the lettuce would appear to only get in the way, it was good for an occasional palate cleansing.

The Lamb Tagine with Curry was good enough, with tender lamb, but the curry flavor in the sauce was a little funky to me.

On a Thursday morning in Paris, we walked a couple blocks from our apartment to this wonderful market to get breakfast and sample some farm fresh fruit.

I wish that all strawberries could be like these — their seeds embedded into the skin rather than sharply protruding, red all the way through, and bursting with pure, sweet strawberry flavor.

This is an example of a 2-inch deep quiche that I’d read about in Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook and once made for class. It was good, but a quiche is tricky to get just right. This custard was just a touch too firm and the vegetables slightly undercooked (which made for an overall slightly rubbery, bumpy texture), and unfortunately, a quiche I had at Bouchon last week must have been overcooked because it tasted of bad scrambled eggs… which means that the silky quiche that I made for class is still my reigning idea of quiche perfection.

This vegetable pizza was very good, even cold.

These Herb Potatoes were so amazing, and I regret that my hands wereÂ too full at the market to take a picture of the huge outdoor pan that these were cooked in. I liked how parts of them were caramelized on the edges.

This fig was a bit firm and the size of a child’s fist, but it was surprisingly soft and sweet inside.